User blog comment:Lathagarr Stormgale of Tronn/Debate/@comment-1607590-20101203213238/@comment-1399757-20101224174138

Re-

1: Judging from the text, Peter was not being that harsh towards Jesus. At least not in a disrespectful way - "Lord, be it far from thee, this shall not be unto thee." If he was being harsh, it is still acceptable due to the fact that it would have been done "out of a tender love, respect and zeal for his Lord and Master's honour". Whether or not Peter knew He would be crucified, he didn't want Jesus to be subjected to suffering and death, period, because the punishment for blasphemers [which was His proclaimed reason for execution I believe] was most always death. If he did somehow know what exactly the punishment would be, crucifixion was not just an execution of long physical suffering, but of complete humiliation as well [not sure if everyone knows, but it is quite certain that Jesus was crucified completely naked - His depiction on the Crucifix with a loin cloth is but for the sake of chastity].

2: In no way am I saying Jesus was overreacting. Adversary - meaning "one who opposes". Peter's suggestion opposed Jesus's reason for coming to the earth, - to redeem mankind through His own death - so Jesus made it clear to him that nothing was going to change that. In addition He told Peter and the rest to follow in His footsteps.

3: Agreed, I'd do the same as well. The problem with that argument is, every human commits sin - thus every human above the age of reason has gone against the will of God at some point. No pope has ever been born that hasn't sinned - we've all done it. Assuming that Peter thought he knew more than Jesus would be casting aside the idea that Peter was doing it as an act of love and zeal. It doesn't indicate in any way that Peter thought he knew more than Jesus. Personally, [this is just another hypothesis of mine] I think it's quite possible he thought this was another of those "feed my sheep" moments, and maybe, partially, he wanted to show Jesus how much faith he had in His power... and then it sort of backfired.

2a. Yeah, I think it takes more than a blog post to make someone change their religious beliefs, lol. But it does give every participant the reason to question their beliefs. I believe, as Thomas Jefferson [or whoever it was] said, "God would rather be questioned honestly than feared blindly." He wants us to apply our knowledge as well as our faith to His glory.

Agreed, I had a great time as well :), and, likewise, it's brought me to a better understanding of my own faith. I think we both kind of sharpened each other's wit in religious matters. Though we aren't of the same denomination we can still unite under other, more prominent causes, and whoever's faith is the truth, may everyone be guided to it - I think we can let this individual debate rest at that. Of course, no hard feelings or ill thoughts :), we're just stating our beliefs. We're kind of bound to defend them so we're kind of bound to cross swords on matters like that. Thanks, and I've enjoyed debating with you too, you're a good, kind-hearted, honest person and it's been a pleasure to bandy with you. Yeah, same here, let's do our best to make it there! :D